The following thoughts are posted from Terry Hamrick, coordinator for Visioning in the Missional Congregations initiative area.
The missional conversation has been going on intensely for fifteen years at CBF. We have been challenged and cajoled to embrace what’s next. We, like all institutions, have discovered that such transition is much easier to talk about that to actually do. We are at a point where we must move beyond conversation to action. Many congregations find themselves at the very same place. How do we get our churches, our leaders, our institutions, and ourselves to the “so what” of being missional?
I recently met with Mark Lau Branson, Goddard Professor of the Ministry of the Laity at Fuller Theological Seminary. I am still processing insights from that exchange. Here are some of the questions we processed.
*How are we seeing and treating persons as objects rather than subjects?
*How can we begin to understand and respond to the transition from institutional to missional as what Heifetz calls adaptive challenge?
*What are the adaptive challenges that must be addressed if we are to make
connection with our culture?
*Can we begin to understand the adaptive process as spiritual discernment?
*What can we do to sponsor and encourage individuals on their unique spiritual journeys so they can appropriately engage their various cultures?
Perhaps wrestling with some of these questions from our conversation will encourage us to continue talking. Perhaps wrestling with the questions will also encourage us to begin to take action.
